This book contains collection of articles which
provide policy implications related to the problem of achieving substantive
reform on the basis of harmonising legislation in Western Balkan (WB) countries
with the standards of the European Union (EU). While WB states have generally
been successful in adopting legal reforms that make up a part of EU
conditionality, many laws remain unenforced, amounting to “empty shells.” In
the space between law, as it is written, and practices as they are engaged in
everyday life, exists a gap, characterized by informality. Some instances of
informality undermine the goal of establishing rule law and contribute to
corruption. Others offer valuable solutions to persistent social problems or
represent traditional vehicles of social cohesion that should be promoted. The
recommendations in this book seek to address both, constructive and damaging
instances of informality, and to identify policy measures that can help to
harmonise not only legislation, but existing informal practices on the ground.